A university professor has tweeted a terrifying recount of her Uber ride to the airport, saying the driver pulled off the highway and attempted to take her to a hotel.

Nancy Leong, a law professor at the University of Denver, said she was on her way to catch a flight when the driver changed the route and refused to unlock the doors.

“We got to a stop light. I started yelling ‘let me out of the f***** car’ and he wouldn’t unlock the doors,” Ms Leong wrote in a Tweet.

The terrified academic said she began pounding on the windows, demanding he let her out of the car until he eventually opened the doors.

Nancy Leong claims her Uber driver refused to let her out of the car and planned to take her to a hotel. Source: Twitter/Nancy Leong

“Then he got out of the car and started coming toward me. Remember we are at a stop light at the bottom of a highway off ramp.

“There’s nothing around.”

I started pounding on the windows until some construction workers looked over. He unlocked the doors and I jumped out but my suitcase was in the trunk. I started screaming and pounding on the trunk until he popped it open.

Ms Leong said the driver then refused to open the boot of the car so she could retrieve her suitcase until some nearby construction workers eventually spotted the commotion and came to her aid.

She said the Uber driver then made a frantic dash back to his car which had begun rolling onto the highway.

Ms Leong said she proceeded to call another Uber as she didn’t know what else to do.

I called another Uber because I didn’t know what else to do. Two of the construction workers waited with me. The second Uber driver was lovely. I didn’t call the police yet because I didn’t have time. I would have missed my flight.